2010 In Television: The Axed Shows

It’s hard to believe that 2010 is nearly over – just where has it gone? – and it’s time for our annual look back at the year in television. So we kick off our look back at 2010 with those shows that were cancelled/axed by the broadcasters. Amongst this years casualties were Waking the Dead, Caprica, Law & Order and Survivors.

It’s hard to believe that 2010 is nearly over – just where has it gone? – and it’s time for our annual look back at the year in television. So we kick off our look back at 2010 with those shows that were cancelled/axed by the broadcasters.

Waking the Dead: BBC One 2000 – 2011

Earlier this year the BBC’s controller of drama Ben Stephenson warned he would cull longer running dramas in order to clear the way for new ones – immediately the death bell began to toil for Waking the Dead. This Cold Case drama starring Trevor Eve and Sue Johnston may still pull in millions of viewers but it lost the plot years ago and has now been running for 8 seasons.

At the time the BBC denied it had decided the future of Waking the Dead beyond its ninth season which will air in 2011. It was revealed though in October than the 9th season would in fact be its last as the corporation had decided to cancel it after all. The first victim of the BBC’s drama cull that could extend to Spooks and Silent Witness as well. The scripts for the ninth season have been written with it being its final year on-air so we should get some conclusion to the series.

Caprica: Syfy

The prequel series to Battlestar Galactica is set some fifty years before the events of its parent show and charts the rise of the Cylons in the Colonies through the eyes of two families; the Adama’s (Tauron immigrants) and the Graystones. In the pilot episode Zoe Graystone (Alessandra Torresani) and Tamara Adama (Genevieve Buechner) are killed in a terrorist attack by the ‘Soldiers of the One’; with Zoe later being labelled a terrorist. The series explores the social divide in Caprican society, the casual racism of most Capricans towards Taurons and also the rise of monotheism within the colonies led by Sister Clarice (Polly Walker). The two main protagonists of Caprica are Daniel Graystone (Eric Stoltz) and Joseph Adama (Esai Morales).

However, Caprica has failed to take off with audiences in the same way that Battlestar Galactica did. The slow plot development of the first few episodes – setting up events for latter episodes and developing the shows mythology – probably didn’t help Caprica in terms of ratings. While the second half of its first season has seen the action ramped up it seems too little too late in regards to viewers as the series has been cancelled by Syfy with five episodes remaining to be aired. A new spin-off Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome, set during the Clyon War, has been commissioned.

The Bill: ITV1 1983 – 2010

Perhaps the biggest axing shock of the year came when ITV revealed it was cancelling its long-running police drama The Bill. The series has been on ITV for over 25 years and at its height had over 10 million viewers per episode. In recent years though the drama had seen ratings fall to 5 million viewers per episode and the show was often dropped from the schedules to make way for other events – such as sport or Britain’s Got Talent.

In 2009 ITV announced it was revamping The Bill, dropping half of its episodes per year and moving it to a 9pm slot. The series also ditched its iconic theme tune, axed quite a few cast members and took on a grittier, CSI look. The revamp was not a success though with it moving to Tuesday evenings – with no publicity – shortly afterwards. We predicted in December 2009 that as ratings had fallen The Bill would be cancelled – and we were right. A campaign to Save The Bill was launched with over 25,000 members joining a Facebook group and coverage in the national press – but the show stayed cancelled. In August of this year the final episode of The Bill aired ending with a dedication to members of the Metropolitan Police Service past and present.

Law and Order: NBC 1990 – 2010

The long-running crime/legal drama Law & Order, created by Dick Wolf, wasn’t expected to last much longer. It’s ratings had dwindled over the past few years and it was widely believed that NBC would only renew the series for a 21st and final season – in fact may thought it was a given that Law & Order would return for a final season. There was a big twist thought as negotiations between NBC and Dick Wolf reportedly broke down and instead the series was cancelled.

It was originally believed though that while the series was cancelled it could return for a special mini-series or reunion movie to give it a proper farewell – this now seems unlikely. Parent show Law & Order is unlikely to return for any kind of send-off and it was recently revealed that spin-off Law & Order: Criminal Intent will also end after one final season. However, the franchise isn’t faltering if that’s what you think as there’s still Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order: Los Angeles and the British remake Law & Order UK which has just been renewed by ITV for a further 13 episodes.

Medium/Ghost Whisperer

One of these supernatural dramas has definitely been axed while the other looks certain to be. Medium started life on NBC with Patricia Arquette playing Alison DeBois but after five seasons the broadcaster cancelled the series. However, as it was produced by CBS Studios it was quickly picked up and moved over to CBS where it was paired up with the broadcasters own supernatural series Ghost Whisperer, starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, on Friday evenings. Although Ghost Whisperer rated slightly higher than its companion series it was – to the shock of its fans – axed by CBS in the summer. There was some discussion of it moving to ABC – who co-produce Ghost Whisperer – but it nothing ever came of it.

However, the 7th series of Medium has not been rating brilliantly for CBS on its own with an average audience of just over 6 million viewers so far – compared to 7 million for its sixth season. CBS has decided to cut its episode order for Medium down from 22 episodes to 13 – a sure sign its future doesn’t look too good. While it hasn’t yet officially been axed (though everyone says it has been) given its lower ratings and reduced episode order it looks set to be cancelled – perhaps CBS are wishing they’d kept Ghost Whisperer now?

Last of the Summer Wine: BBC One 1973 – 2010

If you believed the tabloids the veteran BBC comedy series Last of the Summer Wine has been axed every year for the past decade. It seemed as though every new controller of BBC One was going to take their axe to it – getting the hopes of millions across the country up that the comedy was finally about to be put to rest. Sadly though those hopes were dashed when a new series of the comedy made its way to BBC One. Yes it seems as though despite tabloids rumours to the contrary the pensioners continually lived to spend another day chasing after an escaping bath tub (sometimes with someone inside) down a hill.

That was until this year when it really was cancelled – not just tabloid speculation – by Jay Hunt. There was naturally an outcry from the few viewers who still watched it claiming it was ageism by the BBC perhaps forgotten Last of the Summer Wine had been given over 30 years of life by the BBC and at some point it had to end. Many would argue that it should have ended long ago with the deaths of stars such as Bill Owen, Kathy Staff and Thora Hird having a big impact on the quality of the series. It’s demise came in the same year as Heartbeat and The Bill prompting many to wonder if long-running serials were out of fashion.

Stargate Universe: Syfy 2009 – 2010

Shortly after we wrote this article (we like to get ahead) Syfy announced it was cancelling Stagate Universe after two seasons. The third entry in the Stargate franchise premiered last year with an impressive 2.5 million viewers and soon episodes were rating higher than Dollhouse on Fox. However, by the time the first season had finished ratings had fallen and throghout its second season that trend has continued with figures falling below 1 million viewers. It’s Tuesday evening companion, Caprica, has also been axed and now Stargate Universe has gone the same way.

The franchise has been on Syfy since 2002 when Stargate SG-1 transferred over to the broadcaster and since then Stargate Atlantis and Universe have been launched. While producers sought to continue SG-1 and Atlantis via straight-to-dvd movies (which have temporarily halted due to the recession) it seems unlikely Universe will recieve the same treatment. Another broadcaster would step in and save Universe but that does seem very unlikely. The remaining 10 episodes of Universe will air on Syfy next year after which unless there’s another spin-off launched, or even revived, the Stargate franchise will be notably absent from the channel.

There were countless other dramas, comedies, science fiction and factual programmes axed during 2010 – some new, some old and some barely on-air. ITV’s arts programme The South Bank Show, fronted by Melvyn Bragg, started out on LWT in 1978 and ended earlier this year on ITV seemingly because they ran out of money. It’s rumoured that The South Bank Show could move to Sky Arts as part of the broadcasters plans to boost its arts coverage and take on the BBC. BBC Two culled two long-running factual programmes this year; business programme Working Lunch and the cookery series Ready, Steady Cook – though it is likely to continue broadcasting until next year.

While ITV has enjoyed drama success this year with DCI Banks and Downton Abbey it hasn’t all been plain sailing for the broadcaster. It’s comedy/drama series Married Single Other starring Dean Lennox Kelly, Ralf Little and Lucy Davis was hailed as a new Cold Feet but won’t be back for a second series because of low ratings. Identity, starring Keeley Hawes and Aidan Gillen, revolved around a special police unit tackling identity fraud but it won’t be back either. As widely expected The CW’s revival of Melrose Place (the 1990s teen-drama) was also cancelled because of low ratings. While fellow 1990s revived series 90210 had found an audience Melrose Place wasn’t so lucky and a revamp to make the show ‘more fun’ didn’t work either. The BBC’s re-imaging of Survivors, the 1970s series created by Terry Nation, was also axed. The second six part series aired on BBC One with ratings being pretty unimpressive as Julie Graham, Zoe Tapper and Max Beesley portraying very unsympathetic characters. The BBC’s remake lasted for just 12 episodes compared to 38 for the original series.

Despite a strong launch and much hype ABC’s Flashforward was cancelled when ratings took a tumble they didn’t recover from. The tag of the new ‘Lost’ possibly didn’t help the series with it putting off some while others tuned in and were disappointed. It was however, a hit for Channel Five in the UK with early episodes pulling in over 3 million viewers. On NBC – as we predicted – Heroes limped to an end after 4 seasons. It had managed to survive the axe after its 3rd – to the surprise of some – but in the end it couldn’t escape its poor ratings. A possible reunion movie has been mooted by series creator Tim Kring but as most of the cast have moved onto other roles it seems unlikely but not impossible.

Also axed this year were; Undercovers, Lone Star, Ugly Betty, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Cold Case, Numb3rs, 24. Scrubs and Legend of the Seeker. While both Heartbeat and American daytime soap As The World Turns were cancelled last year both ended their run in September of this year.